Tag: hope

Life Renewed

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

Hello, Thursday Morning! I know it’s still cold out there for some of you, but here in Kentucky, it’s warm. Spring arrived early this year. The trees are all abloom, the tulips are full-blown, my roses are budding (not just leaves, but blossoms!).

We’re already seeing butterflies!

While we’re safely home, staying busy so we don’t worry, it’s nice to look out and see the sun shining.

This weekend, we will celebrate Easter. For those of us who celebrate it as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is our most holy season. This year will be unlike any other we’ve celebrated. But different doesn’t mean bad. I encourage you to put your imagination to work.

Decorate if you normally would and if you don’t usually, try it. Make a nice dinner. If you don’t have anything to decorate your table with, boil and color some eggs. Put them in a nice bowl in the center of the table. (Don’t leave them out too long, and you can make deviled eggs or egg salad sandwiches, garnish a green salad or potato salad. Or just eat ’em.)

Put on your Easter outfits to watch your online service. Make it fun and special.

If you couldn’t get out to buy something for the kid’s baskets (if you do that), use your imagination. Check out Pinterest if you need help. Dress up a basket, or a bowl or box, fill it with homemade goodies. Hide treats or small toys around the house. You can even hide the Easter baskets!

This will be a year like no other, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad or disappointing. I hope I’ve given you a few good ways to stir up your imagination.

Also, I know some of you are alone and the thought of spending Easter on your own can be overwhelming. I encourage you to join in wherever you can. Find a service to watch, play worship music, call friends and family. Open the Bible to your favorite gospel and read the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Try reading it aloud.

Note: If someone in your family is alone on Easter, take a few minutes to check on them. Make it a video call if possible so they can see your face. Don’t forget to smile! 🙂 You can also send a pre-recorded video greeting via text messaging.

On Easter, my cousin Rick used to answer the phone, “Happy Easter Egg!” in a joyous tone of voice. It may seem silly, but he made us all laugh. He’s celebrating with Jesus this year, but the memory of that greeting remains. We’ll never forget it.

The point is, you have the power to make this holiday special for yourself and others. Let’s not allow our circumstances to keep us “in the grave.” Hope renews life and builds faith. These will all work together when you allow the great “I am” to have His way in your life.

Click to Tweet: You have the power to make this holiday special for yourself and others. Let’s not allow our circumstances to keep us “in the grave.”

Relevant Care

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens2 Comments

Relevance: having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand [Merriam-Webster definition]

Betty and Betty

I’m not sure why this came to me as I drove home from another visit with Mom. Relevant care. It bears an immediacy, tugs at my heart. What is relevant about this, other than the fact that it’s happening now and continues to happen, whether I’m there with her, or waiting at home.

We’ve had a crisis in our family, as Mom’s health spirals in and out of decline. Life takes her down. I watch her fight her way back, time and time again. Will she make it this time? Only God knows.

The hospital has moved her into a rehab center. I sign in to see her. They have her under her legal name, Betty, instead of Chris, her long-time nickname. It’s my name, too. I swallow the lump in my throat as I write it on the form.

I find her in a room down a long hall.

Now, fear joins in the battle. Her fear. Anxiety fills her and permeates the air around her. Will this latest health issue keep her anchored in the rehab center, the nursing home? Rather than nestled in her own home, where she longs to be. The anxiety weighs her down more than the issues that threaten her life.

If I could, I would bear it for her, bag it up, take it home with me and keep it far from her, out of harm’s way. Give her a lighter burden to bear and a better chance at recovery.

Prayers help. Visits help, even when we only sit in silence, together. She talks too much, bringing on another coughing jag.

I wait, holding her hand.

She apologizes for the fortieth time, for complaining so much. She confesses her fears, not with words, but through her actions. The “tell” is a look in her eyes, like that of a hunted animal.

I wait. Then I let her know she’s not bothering me. I’m just happy to be here with her.

Will this be the time? Will I leave and never see her again? Fears dance in my mind, too. Life can be unpredictable at times.

Hope rallies. Sometimes, I return and find her better. We go out and have a bit of fun, all she can bear in her feeble state.

Her resilience continues to amaze me, as she faces each new crisis of health. She finds a way to get through it.

“This is my life now,” she tells me. “I just need to figure out how to live here, too.” Then yesterday, she added, “But I want you to know, I’m ready to go.”

So what is “relevant care” for me right now? Taking care of the needs of my family. Answering the call to hold a hand and be present in the moment. This means I may not always have a post here on Thursday morning, but I know my readers will understand. This is my life now, and I just need to figure out how to live here.

Make no mistake, I am so very, very thankful because I have been so blessed. That’s what makes this moment of my life so precious. I realize how quickly it passes and how fast those precious moments in the now become precious memories.

In Alert Expectancy

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens2 Comments

Hello, Thursday Morning readers! I hope you’re having a successful week. I am well aware that sometimes our days are filled with trials and tribulations. That’s when hope comes into play.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” [Romans 5: 1-5 NIV]

In The Message Bible, that word “hope” is translated as “in alert expectancy”. Isn’t that a wonderful phrase? Do you live in alert expectancy, looking for a brighter tomorrow? Or have you lost hope, as so many have?

I know all about that. I’ve endured depression and spiritual and physical weakness, when I felt completely incapable of enduring one more ounce of pain and sorrow.

If you examine the verses above, times like those build character, like steel in the forge. There are so many things in life I’d rather not experience, but if all of life was easy street, I’m not sure I’d have much to talk about. For one thing, that’s never going to happen. Everyone goes through difficulties in life. Some, more than others. You may question, “Why, me?”

One possible answer is found in scripture. Your character is revealed and strengthened by the forge of troubles, in much the same way as that mix of metals is heated white hot and pounded into the perfect instrument for use.

How do you endure such a test? By living in alert expectancy, giving God’s grace entrance into our lives. That grace is like the cold water the hot, newly-shaped steel instrument is dipped into. It cools the steel to the point it can be handled.

Okay, then how do you find this hope—this “alert expectancy”?

I renew my hope by reading passages such as the one above. I read encouraging scriptures, listen to worship and praise music, build myself up with devotionals. Listen to uplifting sermons. Take long walks and meditate. Spend time with loved ones. Spend time away. Get a mani-pedi. Go shopping. Whatever it takes.

There are times when I’m muddling through life, because I don’t have time to get away. I have too long a list of necessary things. I have people waiting on me to finish something. Do this, do that. And all the while, my heart is aching. I’m in mental and spiritual anguish that can result in physical pain.

Morning comes. I open the blinds to let in the bright sunshine and my heart is lighter. Hope is renewed. It’s baked fresh every morning, and its fragrance fills my spirit and lightens my load. I can do this. I CAN live in alert expectancy, waiting for the JOY that always follows.

In Rebecca’s Legacy, my protagonist goes through some character-building tribulations that lead her to examine her young life and reassess what’s really important. She discovers something that’s been there all along. The grace of God.

Too easy? I wouldn’t call what she endured easy.

Another character in the book goes through a trial-by-fire, too. For him, it’s an adjustment that changes his life path. That change sets to right so many things, giving not only him, but his entire family a brighter future.

So, if you knew ahead of time that what you are asked to endure for the present will result in a better future for yourself and your family, would you submit? Read that scripture passage a few times, until the words penetrate your heart and mind. Until you gain understanding. Look it up in The Message Bible and read it again. Let the Word of God build you, refine you, until you’re ready. Ready for what?

Your answer will come. Wait for it–in alert expectancy.

If you have time, please visit today’s interview with Margaret Kazmierczak. She marooned me on a desert island. You’ll find it here —the interview, not the island— Coffee, life and encouragement on the island couch.

Therapeutic Writing

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens8 Comments

Therapeutic writing. What thought pops into your mind when you read or hear those words?

As an author, I often write to cleanse my heart and mind of painful things. I’ve found it therapeutic. So, I was not surprised to hear this discussed in a writer’s meeting.

Not only did the exercise help a young woman process the pain of loss, but those writings helped her form a scene in her work-in-progress, as her main character dealt with the loss of a loved one. In the finished product, the character’s emotions are raw, her actions and conversations, achingly real. Readers will fully engage with the scene and the character.

What about non-writers–ordinary folks looking for a way to ease their emotional suffering?

I’m not a professional counselor, but I would suggest it to anyone. When I journal my feelings, I’m not writing for others, so I don’t have to worry about grammar, spelling, or sentence construction. I just pick up a pen, or open a new document on my preferred electronic device, and start writing. I write out my pain, shout my anger, tell a deceased loved one how I feel. All the things I didn’t have the chance to say when they were still alive.

Then what? I keep it hidden away. Shred it. Burn it. It’s up to me. Most writers will definitely want to keep theirs, and remember the depths of pain and despair, so they can write from their heart and bring a scene to life.

But what if someone can’t, or doesn’t want to write? Talk. There’s an app for that. Find a free, or inexpensive speech-to-text program and use it. Sometimes, seeing those words in written form–repeating them out loud–promotes healing. Sometimes.

I love to go for long walks. And those seem to be the times when my creative processes are flowing. I have all kinds of ideas. So I get out my phone, open a note, and start dictating. Sometimes I throw them out, but many times, I find good material that I can use in my work.

Mom, please write down your memories! How many times have I heard this? One of my sons wants me to write down the stories I’ve heard all my life. Stories about long-dead family members. Stories that will be lost, unless someone writes them down. Telling those stories is a quick and easy way to store them. Then I can transcribe them or use a speech to text program to bring them into a word document.

This process is both therapeutic and healing for me, because some of these memories bring up old hurts and painful losses. Talking them out, writing them down, can help me deal with the pain and restore my hope.

Though I’ve barely tapped the surface here, I hope I’ve encouraged a reader or two, or at least given you food for thought. If you’d like to study it further, there are numerous articles written on the subject of therapy writing or journaling. It’s important that you resist guilt feelings over delayed or prolonged grieving. And never assume to know exactly what someone is going through (even if you’ve suffered a similar loss or trauma).

Everyone processes emotion in their own way. This is why I believe writing therapy is a good thing, because it is so personal.

How do you process grief?

(Click to Tweet)  Everyone processes trauma or loss in their own way. #WritingTherapy #journal

Who won last week’s book giveaway?

Congratulations, Sandra Ardoin! And happy reading. I hope you enjoy the book!

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Hope for the New Year

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

Relax

Recover

Refresh

Renew

Rekindle

shutterstock_165919043-SNOWThese are good words for the last few days of 2016. The holidays are over. It’s time to box up the decorations. And of course, there’s one other “r” word–returns. I plan to wait a few days on that, let the lines shorten.

Hope rises with the sun in the morning. Yes, most of winter lies ahead of us. Many changes lie ahead, too. But still, one of the most renewable energy sources remains strong–Hope.

Hope wakes us up in the morning, keeps us going from one day till the next.

My source of hope is my faith in God, and in my Savior, Jesus Christ. You may regard that as false or foolish hope, but it’s real to me. I’ve lost nothing if I continue through life believing in that blessed hope. I’ve gained a life of peace and contentment (even through the difficult, gut-wrenching losses).

Next week is a New Year! Maybe I’ll investigate a few “P” words–productive, possibilities, peace…

Happy New Year!